sick fish help

Question
My sucker fish I think is dying i cant think of the the actual name.  its the one that sucks on the glass.  i have a ten gallon tank i changed the water two weeks ago ive had the fish for a bout a half a year.  its symptoms are it cant seem to swim right and if it flips upside down it cant flip back over.  from the the top of the tank it just sinks to the bottom but it fights to stay up.  in a way it seems like its depressed if that makes sense. i haven't found any other things wrong my parents thought it was dead i went to take it out and it moved so now im trying to save it.  i have 5 goldfish and one albino catfish please help its my favorite fish

Answer
Hi Paul,

I'm really hoping that you do not have 5 goldfish, an albino cat and the sick pleco all in the 10 gallon.  If this is the case you are probably one of the most severely overstocked tanks I have ever heard of.

Goldfish REQUIRE 20 gallons for one goldfish and 10 gallons for each additional fish.  They also require double that in filtration.  So five goldfish would need a 60 gallon tank with 120 gallons of filtration.  Anything else simply cannot support the bioload that they produce and they end up stressed, chronically ill and finally dead.  With the proper set up goldfish will live 20+ years.  It's no wonder in the US their lifespan is 3 weeks.  And this is only if they are fancy goldfish.  Single tailed's, like comets, need 100+ gallons for that many goldfish and are really meant for a pond.  People think if they cram them in a small tank they they will stop them from growing as they should and they'll be fine.  Not true.  The outside of the fish indeed will stop growing while the inside organs continue to expand to max capacity until they fail.  Just because it 'looks' like they have room isn't what counts, it's what you cannot see, the heavy bioload that these fish produce, that counts and must be accomodated.

Goldfish are coldwater fish and should never be mixed with plecos.  Plecos will suck the slime coats off of a goldfish leaving them exposed to bacteria and parasitic infections.

By an albino cat, I'm assuming it's a cory catfish.  These are tropical, need warmer temps than goldfish and a shoal to thrive.  They should be kept in a grouping of 4-6+ and do best in a tropical community tank.

You also need to be careful with what kind of pleco you have.  Some get to be 2 feet in length and need a 100+ gallon tank.  Again, if they are kept in smaller tanks the same things as described above will happen with the organ failure, etc.  Even a 4-5 inch max pleco needs a larger than 10 gallon tank.

Have you checked the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?  Having these readings would give me a better indication of what is going on with the pleco.  Ammonia and nitrites should always be 0, nitrates 5-20 ppm.  If any of these are off you should be doing some immediate action to rectify the water quality.  Without knowing these the symptoms are just that of a stressed fish, but knowing what the water is like, and to what degree, will better define the issue.

I would get the goldfish in their own large, 60+ gallon tank immediately.  I would get the cory into his own tank, which can be 10 gallons for now.  Even clear plastic rubbermaid containers with hang on filters will do for now and are cheap.  You will have to seed the new tanks will items from the exisiting tank to avoid the harmful cycling process all over again but until I know your water readings it's hard to advise.  I wouldn't want you to taint the new tanks if the current one is very bad off.

I would isolate the pleco in the tank that you have now all by himself.  I really cannot advise you on what to do next without having those water readings.  The isolation and unload of the waste produced by the other fish should help in and of itself.  I wouldn't feed him for a few days.  Are there no other symptoms?  No spots, lumps, bumps, emaciation, lack of appetite, color change?  I really need some additional information to give you a better answer.

Good luck : ) April M.